...Inside The Cathedral In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, Carver touches on a personal experience. Carver and his wife were going to have a house guest, a man that his wife had worked with ten years ago over the summer in Seattle. Carver’s wife had stayed in touch with this man, Robert, over the years. The visit was bittersweet, though Robert was going to be reunited with a long-time friend; it was under the conditions that his wife had passed way. He’d come to Connecticut to visit his late-wife’s family and stay with the Carvers. There was one catch, however. Robert was completely blind and this made Raymond carver extremely uneasy, saying that “a wink and a nod are the same to a blind man.” Raymond’s taking on the situation; catering to a blind man; was very socially ignorant. Admittedly so, he said “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.” (Carver, lines :_). Raymond also offered to take the “blind man” bowling, which is truly a sad, if not just cynical image to bear. Raymond’s wife was extremely nervous to be accommodating to the Robert as well, but it was an excitable nervousness. She longed to be reunited with him, to share stories and catch up, but this was also a man her husband had never met; she could sense the tinge of jealousy and irritation in the air around her husband. She was...
Words: 617 - Pages: 3
...A True Hero Portrayed: Thomas Becket Edward Grim was a good friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Around his neck, Grim even bore the cross necklace of Becket. On December 29, 1170, Grim witnessed the horrific murder of his good friend where he was delivering mass in his own cathedral. This was the day that Thomas Becket was martyred for his faith. Grim remained loyal to Becket, writing down the details of the brutality he had seen that day; He called it Martyrdom. Martyrdom is now known as a historically accurate text depicting the murder of St. Thomas Becket. Using Grim’s text as reference, the prestigious playwright, T.S. Eliot, wrote Murder in the Cathedral, with Becket as the central character. Historical accuracies assisted Eliot in creating a character with valor and strength and telling the story of his road to martyrdom. Firstly, Eliot depicts Becket as a bold man who has no fear. This is clearly exemplified right away by Thomas’ return to England from France. He knows his death is coming and he does not run and hide from it. In his last moments, Becket stands strong for his beliefs, revealing himself to the Knights who have come to bring him to his death. Even as all the monks beside him tremble with fright, Becket remains composed. In his obvious repetition of the word “fear,” Grim depicts Becket’s attitude. He writes: ‘The righteous will be like a bold lion and free from fear,’ he descended from the steps to which he had been taken...
Words: 937 - Pages: 4
...David Macaulay: Cathedral This film is an animated documentary about the building of a fictitious Catholic cathedral in 13th century France. Based on the book by David Macaulay, "Cathedral" references the real cathedrals of today, looks at the challenges of building such huge structures, given the available technology of the time, explains why they were of such importance to medieval life, and how they remain so today, 700 years later. Whenever I travel, I adore visiting cathedrals, when though I am not religious. Much of the film consists of cartoons, which I though was an interesting way to talk about such historical buildings. It's an interesting look at the incredible engineering skills and craftsmanship that went into the construction of France's famous Gothic cathedrals. "Even to our eyes, which have seen towering skyscrapers, indoor stadiums, jumbo jets and space shuttles, Gothic cathedrals still inspire awe," Macaulay says. I thought this was such an interesting way to think about why these buildings are so awe-inspiring, even though we have became so used to these things. And even more incredible than the fact that these buildings are still standing, they are still being used for their original purpose. Cathedral combines current film footage of the structures--including Notre-Dame de Paris, Chartres, Bourges and Amiens--with animated sequences illustrating how such buildings were erected. I found the animation to be a fun way to talk about these buildings, and...
Words: 313 - Pages: 2
...Before its destruction, the original Chartres Cathedral was terribly important to both the villagers of Chartres and the followers of the Catholic Church. The cathedral housed the Sancta Camisa, which was believed to be the tunic the Virgin Mary wore when she gave birth to Jesus. The Sancta Camisa and the Chartres Cathedral were vital to the prosperity of the village of Chartres due to the large amount of visitors the ancient relic attracted. The religious pilgrims supported the economy within Chartres by making trades and purchases with the local villagers for food, goods and supplies for their travels, and lodging to recover from their pilgrimage. Additionally, the Sancta Camisa acted as a source of hope for the villagers. The people of...
Words: 481 - Pages: 2
...The Notre Dame Cathedral at Chartres has a magnificent western façade, which has three large portals on its bottom center. Above that, there are three lancet windows and at the center of the façade, there is a large rose window decorated with plate tracery. Beside the portals, we can find two splendid towers with the northern tower higher than the southern one. The towers are supported by three buttresses each and bear multiple pairs of lancet windows, most of which are found between the buttresses. Between the two towers and above the rose window of the cathedral, there is a closed gallery. We can also see pinnacles topped with finials on the towers. Lastly, the two towers are topped with spires, with the northern one possessing multiple crockets....
Words: 578 - Pages: 3
...History Gothic Cathedrals: The Hidden Tails of the Exploitation of Men Presented by: Charles Nasr TO: Mrs. Dina Baroud Gothic Cathedrals: The Hidden Tails of the Exploitation of Men Religion and church have always been criticized by scientists, physicists and philosophers because they sometimes use people and try to take advantage of their beliefs. Gothic churches, or sometimes referred to as skyscrapers of stone still stand till our days magically and gloriously. Anyone, no matter what his religious belief is and not matter how indifferent he is about architecture can’t but look admiringly to these churches. But, These churches that were supposedly built to bring people closer to God hide a lot of sad and dark tails that show the exploitation and abuse that was exercised by the Clerics towards the believers. A good example of this behavior was Chartres cathedral, Chartres cathedral is one of the earliest Gothic churches to be ever built, but initially it wasn’t Gothic, it was rebuilt into one. It started when lightning stroke the cathedral and burned it to the ground. One of the most important elements in this church was the The villagers in the town of Chartres were shocked, they used to think of the church as their protector especially virgin Mary’s tunic that was given to them by the king of France used to reside there. After the fire, bishop Renault started saying that the incident was nothing but a sign from Virgin Marie herself that she desires a bigger...
Words: 1095 - Pages: 5
...Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction This research project serves as culmination to the problem involving the restoration of the Basilica. It seeks to summarize, explain and synthesize several highlights of the topic in dialogue with the assigned texts and other readings; it will force additional research and reflections as an instrument for clarifying, defining and augmenting the author’s understanding of the major issues addressed by the proposal. The scope of the study embraces a solution that will lead the restoration of the Basilica to realities and treat the problems involving its reestablishment. Being a national heritage and considered to be one of the first Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines, it is our objective to restore a historical edifice and preserve its cultural legacy and customs. On October 15, 2013, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook Bohol at approximately 8:00 in the morning. It caused millions of worth of casualties, hundreds of families devastated, destroyed numerous properties and damaged many historical landmarks and churches, including the Basilica de Sto. Nino. The earthquake crushed most of the belfry and façade; walls and frescoes are cracked, leaving the church in verge of total wreckage. To prevent an entire loss, propositions involving the repair and rebuilding of the damaged areas are to be provided as well as redesigning of the structure’s stability will furnish its constancy to be able to withstand future disastrous...
Words: 10393 - Pages: 42
...Cathedral I did not care for the narrator of this story at all! The way he told the story was very irritating and made it hard for me to become interested. I had to read back over many paragraphs to comprehend what was going on. He could have put five of his short sentences that said the same thing over and over again, into one sentence. To me the narrator seemed simple minded. There was a couple moments only a sentence or two where he made me think the story was going to become easier to read, but it did not. In a way I do pity him, because his sentences consisting of only a few words and the way he would say the same sentence over, just switching the words a little made it seem to me that the narrator did not know how to speak correctly. The narrator seemed almost resentful about Robert coming to visit. He came across very rude and non-supporting of his wife, who was excited being able to see an important friend she had not seen in years. The narrator acted like being blind was a contagious and deadly disease. He did everything not to like Robert or to give him a fighting chance. Robert surprised me in the end, because after the way the narrator reacted throughout the story, in the end it was Robert who won over the narrator and gave the narrator an important life experience. Robert may be blind and could not see the narrator’s actions and facial comments, but he had to be able to feel the negative attitude the narrator had towards him. Robert just continued on,...
Words: 531 - Pages: 3
...direction of what you want to see and the image instantaneously appears. The inner, invisible, intangible characteristics require more than receptors and neurons to visualize. Thought and personal investment are required in the visualization of the intangible. In “Cathedral”, Raymond Carver suggests blindness is often an affliction of the heart and soul and not the eyes. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a short story about a husband’s journey to enlightenment. A longtime friend of the wife comes to visit after the death of his wife. The wife meets the blind man, Robert, ten years prior while looking for a summer job. She becomes his assistant. The wife reads briefs, reports, and helps organize the blind man’s office. Over the years the wife and blind man keep in touch; corresponding by sending audio tapes through the mail (Carver). The visit from the blind man is not something the husband is excited about. He remains disconnected from the conversation most of the evening. When the wife falls to sleep, the husband is forced to engage with the blind man. With the persistence of the blind man, the husband engages in a conversation about cathedrals. It is through the process of describing the cathedrals to the blind man that the life of the...
Words: 1285 - Pages: 6
...The spaces, while sacred are also violated numerous times and in some instances by the people who have held them sacred. In the beginning of the movie we see Romero in the church full of people celebrating his promotion to Archbishop, specifically the president elect, and some from the military. Later we see the same people turning on the Church and blaming it for the deaths and turmoil. Additionally, the occupation of the church by the National Guard is an excellent example of a violation of the sacred space. The National Guard repeatedly demonstrates their disrespect for the Church as the movie progresses by overtaking the church building and utilizing the space as a barracks. They desecrate the tabernacle and use force against Romero. Finally, we see the ultimate violation of the sacred space when Romero is murdered while celebrating the eucharist inside his church. With all of the hate and anger in the community, the congregation’s members and clergy remain strong and repeatedly join together to reclaim their church and re-establish the sacredness. Romero is the best example of the reclamation with his continued insistence to enter the church and celebrate the eucharist after the oppression of the National Guard. His success comes when the people of his congregation (the members of the community) join with him. The show of faith and belief leaves a lasting impact on the military and they allow Romero and the people to pass without further harm. Romero leads the congregation...
Words: 281 - Pages: 2
...Cathedral There are three major characters in this short story. Two of which stay unnamed throughout the story, the husband and the wife. The third character is a middle-aged blind man named Robert. He is an old friend and previous employer of the wife. It has been ten years since they had seen each other in person, but they kept in consistent contact by sending each other recorded messages on tapes. When Robert’s wife Beulah passes his old employee, the young wife, more than happily opens her home to him. “Cathedral” takes place in the household of the husband and wife. The wife’s old friend comes to visit and he stays the night after a lot of traveling for his wife’s funeral. The husband is uneasy about Robert staying in their home, not because he is a stranger to him but mainly because he is blind. He arrives just before dinner. They have a few drinks, eat, and return again to the living room to continue drinking. Robert and the wife talk for a while about events that have occurred in the past ten years they have been apart. The husband intentionally being rude turns on the television. This story seems to be set in the mid 1940’s or 1950’s. This is evident because the husband asks Robert if he has one. “My dear, I have two TVs. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing,” says Robert, and he can somehow tell that the television they are watching is a color set. The majority of “Cathedral” occurs in the living room. Hours pass and the wife falls asleep...
Words: 1177 - Pages: 5
...“A Drastic Change in Carver’s Cathedral” “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And being blind bothered me” (Carver 184). These were some of the things the narrator made towards the blind man Robert, when hearing of his future visit to his house. In Carver’s short story “Cathedral”, the author shows a character that develops throughout the story, and this particular cathedral proves to play a big role in the theme of the story. From the very start, you could tell he was not fond of the blind man. It seemed as at the beginning, he was shallow, disconnected and insecure. By the end of the story he became more accepting of a person other than himself and proved to be a changed man, thus supporting the author’s theme that seeing is different from looking. The very first trait that can be noticed about the narrator was his shallowness. He was harshly judgmental of the blind man in quite a few ways. For one, the narrator compares him to blind people in movies, by saying “In the movies, the blind man moved slowly and never laughed” (Carver 184), and he also threw in that they usually had to be accompanied by dogs. He was totally wrong of course, because movies are different from real, and doesn’t mean every blind person is deprived of the capability to operate and move around. Another way he portrays his shallowness is by questioning the blind man’s dead wife name, Beulah. “Was his wife a negro?” (Carver 185). Knowing Robert’s wife name was...
Words: 777 - Pages: 4
...Diane Perry Response Paper 1 Inside a Box Raymond Carver’s the “Cathedral” takes place in somewhere upstate New York with an estimated time frame of a setting of late 1960’s to early 1070’s. The clues of how Robert should travel while coming and going passed the Hudson, should offer the reader a clue where the setting takes place. (Carver 109)The references in the story with a color television set, terms used in the text, the use of cassette tapes, and the use of marijuana would give the reader the impression of the timing of the story. The setting would appear to be a small town which symbolizes the thinking at that time and why the husband thinks the way he does throughout the story. References to traditional marriages, non- mixing of races during this time as well give the reader clues as to the importance of setting. Living in upstate New York would indicate that it was a small working town which correlates with the husband having the small town perception of something that is not the norm for him. In this story, Carver tells how a husband’s comfort zone, narrow-mindedness, and the ability to change how he communicates effectively will change throughout this story with a single, closely personal mind opening event. The clues in the story definitely show that the husband's character is very narrow- minded when it comes to something out of his comfort zone. He judges things without exploring or opening his mind he makes snap judgments...
Words: 1407 - Pages: 6
..."Cathedral," written by Raymond Carver, is about a person who is blind and is a friend of narrator’s wife. His name is Robert. Robert is going to meet narrator’s wife, who is his friend, after his wife’s death. The narrator feels unhappy that his wife’s friend is coming to their house to spend the night. His wife has gone to pick the blind person from the train station while the narrator stays at home. When his wife arrives at home, he sees from the window and feels bad because his wife is laughing with Robert and hugging him on her arm. Robert and the narrator’s wife have worked at the same office before their marriage. She worked as the reader for Robert. She tells her husband that at the last day of her office Robert touched her face, and she wrote a poem about her experience. The narrator’s wife and blind man keep in touch with each other by sending the tape back and forth. After Robert reaches their home narrator’s wife introduces him with her husband. The narrator asks his wife to take Robert for bowling, but she feels upset and tells her husband about Robert’s wife Beulah who died recently. She tells the narrator that Beulah was also working for blind man before she got married with him. The narrator thinks how awful it must have been for Beulah to know that her husband could never look at her. They have the dinner and have conversation about Robert’s trip. The narrator finds the blind man weird because he has not put on his glasses. They watch television and see the Cathedral...
Words: 1030 - Pages: 5
...Cathedral In this world, it’s quite common to meet someone with a disability. In fact there are 650 million people in the world who are disabled, according to the World Health Organization. One of the main characters in “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver, Richard, is blind. I can relate to him on a certain level because I have asthma. People with disabilities are often discriminated against, though sometimes, I believe, unintentionally. The general population of non-disabled people usually have misconceptions about disabilities because of the media and hearing about things from friends. This I what the blind man, Richard, encounters when he comes to visit the woman who used to read to him many years ago. The husband of the woman had limited knowledge about blindness that only came from what he sees in the movies. I used to get picked on because people didn’t know a lot about asthma. It is quite sad honestly, that people usually don’t take the time to learn about disabilities. The woman continually fusses at her husband about how he speaks and acts around the blind man. I, honestly, find this annoying. How is the husband supposed to learn the boundaries if she holds him back from doing anything? There is a part where the wife gives the husband a look and the husband thinks to himself “I don’t think she likes what she sees...” Personally, I think the husband is doing okay even if his knowledge of blindness is faulty. Richard is of the same opinion, I believe. He is always...
Words: 440 - Pages: 2
